October Archives

Collingwood “Cherry” Ingram

Cherry Blossom Botanist Today is the birthday of the British botanist Collingwood “Cherry” Ingram, who was born on this day in 1880. Since he was a child, Ingram was obsessed with cherry blossoms. He spent most of his adult life devoted to their cultivation and preservation. In 1926, Ingram traveled to Japan, hoping to find…

Alice Eastwood

A Curator of Botany Today is the anniversary of the death of the Canadian American self-taught botanist Alice Eastwood who died on this day in 1953. Eastwood is remembered for saving almost 1500 specimens from a burning building following the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. Afterward, she wrote about the specimens that didn’t make it:…

A Song of October

by Phebe A. Holder The alder wears its scarlet beads, The clematis its downy seeds, The sumach’s deepening ruby gleams, The birch in hues of topaz beams; In golden bars through leafy doors The sunshine falls on forest floors, While the warm air with balsam breathes A spicy odor from the trees. The softened light,…

Sir Walter Raleigh

Prisoner of the Tower of London On this day in 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh was executed. On the orders of King James, Raleigh had been a special prisoner at the Tower of London for thirteen years. During his time in the tower, Raleigh was allowed to tend a small apothecary garden in the courtyard below.…

Augustin Gattinger

Pioneer Botanist of Tennesee On this day in 1908, The Tennessean newspaper reported that the botanist Thomas G. Harbison was in Nashville to collect a specimen of the clematis gattingeri for Harvard. The gattingeri clematis was regarded as a scarce plant that had been discovered by Augustin Gattinger. Gattinger was known as the “Pioneer Botanist…

William Henry Chapman

Symbolism of Trees Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist William Henry Chapman who died on this day in 1970. Chapman was an American botanist, and his area of specialty was pomology or fruit. As a professor, Chapman taught at Cornell and later at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, where he was…

Jamie Taggert

A Risk For Plants On this day in 2013, Jamie Taggert, the young Scottish botanist, set out on a solo Plant Expedition to Vietnam. Jamie grew up with his botanist father, Jim, and tended the garden his dad founded – the Linn Botanic Gardens that overlooks Loch Long on Cove Bay in Scottland. The ancestors…

Autumn Movement

by Carl Sandburg I cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts. The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds. The northwest wind comes, and the yellow is torn full of holes, new beautiful things come in…

Celebrating Ian Hamilton Finlay: the Little Sparta Scottish Gardener, Artist, and Poet

“Finlay created a one-of-a-kind garden that incorporated sculptures, words, architecture, and poetry. He named his garden Little Sparta, which he considered a living piece of art.” October 28, 1925 On this day, the Scottish poet, artist, and gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay was born. Finlay created a one-of-a-kind garden that incorporated sculptures, words, architecture, and…

Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle

Father of Geographical Botany Today is the birthday of the botanist Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle, who was born on this day in 1806 the year Linnaeus died. He was the son of the Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. Candolle’s ground-breaking book, Origin for Cultivated Plantsbegins, “It is a common saying, that the plants with which…

Katherine Brandagee

The Second Female Botanist Today is the 175th birthday of the botanist Katherine Brandagee who was born on this day in 1844. Brandagee was the third woman to enroll at Berkeley’s medical school and the second woman to be professionally employed as a botanist in the US. While getting her MD at Berkeley, Kate had…

Gulielma Lister

Queen of Slime Molds Today is the birthday of the original Queen of Slime Molds, Gulielma Lister, who was born on this day in 1860. Gulielma was born into a Quaker family in England, and her family and friends called her Gulie. Her mom and dad were a classic match of opposites. Her mother was…

Edwin James

The Climb of Pikes Peak Today is the anniversary of the death of the botanist Edwin James who died on this day in 1861 As a young man, James compiled the very first Flora of Vermont plants. James went on one of the first expeditions of the American West from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains.…

October’s Party

by George Cooper October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came- The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples, And leaves of every name. The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand, Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor Wind, the band. Note: The American Poet George Cooper remembered for his happy song lyrics, which were…